Monocrome
by splitseconddecision
Summary: abandoned.


A/N: Hey, all, welcome to my first fic that is solely CCS. Woot. ^_^ I'm not making any demands, but if you like it, please review, even if it's just something along the lines of "hey, this is spiffy, please write more". It really makes me happy and encourages me to not give up on this, as I am won't to do. Enjoy! Thanks bunches to my neechans/betas Usa-chan and Aori Tsuki. Owe ya one!

Disclaimer: I, SA2-chan, do hereby claim that I do not have ownership of Cardcaptor Sakura or any related characters/place/paraphernalia. So there. ;-P The lyrics at the start of this chapter are from Hamasaki Ayumi's "monochrome", and I don't own those either.

Rated: PG

Warnings: profanity (very likely), S+S, possibility of a fluffiness overload

~*~*~*~

monochrome Chapter One 

~*~*~*~

Hajime kara sonna mono  
Nakatta no ka mo shirenai

[Maybe it wasn't there to begin with]

~*~*~*~

            The answering machine was beeping when Kinomoto Sakura walked into her small apartment in Tokyo. Taking a moment to wring out her hair, which was sopping from the downpour she had only just emerged from, she walked over to the offending object and pressed the play button. She listened to the messages as the made herself a cup of tea and rummaged around in her mini refrigerator for something that wasn't expired. She grimaced, disgusted with herself for not going shopping in two weeks.

            _"You have four messages," _droned the machine. Sakura raised her eyebrows. She rarely got even two messages, at least on a Friday afternoon, anyway. 

            _"Friday, 2:26 PM. *beep* Hey, Kaijuu [1]. Call." _Giving a slight twitch, Sakura rolled her eyes. Typical, eloquent Touya.

            _"Friday, 3:15 PM. *beep* Sakura-chan, please listen to me! I need you to come t—"_ Sakura frowned and reached over to press the erase button. She didn't need to hear from Masato today. She had broken up with him for a good reason, even if she had declined to tell him what that reason was.

            "Message has been erased. Friday, 3:20 PM. *beep* Sakura-cha—" Erase. Kami-sama, didn't that guy know when to give up? 

            _"Message has been erased. Friday, 5:12 PM. *beep* Moshimoshi, Saku-chan!"_ Sakura smiled. Ah, Tomoyo. Someone who would nag her. _"So, best friend, mine, what's new? We haven't spoken in weeks, have we? Anyway, call me back right away, you'll never guess what just happened, and I want to hear your reaction! Better yet, drop by! Okaasan would like to see you as well, and I'm sure that Rika, Chiharu, and Naoko wouldn't mind having you back in Tomoeda! Ciao for now!"_ Sakura's smile grew. It was amazing how Tomoyo could find a way to punctuate every sentence with and exclamation mark when she was excited. Sakura looked at the clock on the wall. If she hurried, she could make it to Shibuya Station by eight o'clock and snag an overnight train south to Tomoeda. 

            She scurried to her bedroom and pulled a suitcase out from under the twin bed, tossing some clothes and necessities in it as she went. She zipped it up quickly, grabbed her keys and left her apartment, making sure to lock up before walking out onto the streets of Shibuya and making her way past the tall Shibuya 109 [2a] building.

            It was when she was passing the statue of the dog Hachiko [2b] outside the station when she ran into a bit of trouble.

            "Sakura! I knew you still loved me!" Sakura whirled, fury making her emerald eyes glitter.

            "Masato?! What the hell are you doing here?" she hissed, glaring at the passers-by who were looking on in interest. Slight confusion cloud Masato's brown eyes [3].

            "What are you talking about, Sakura? I called you and left a message to tell you to meet me at the Hachiko statue if you still loved me!" he said, looking pitifully hopeful. Sakura shook her head, feeling a pang of remorse. She hated to make people sad, but it had to be done if she didn't want Masato stalking her for the rest of her life.

            "Sorry, Masato, but there's been a misunderstanding. I deleted your message as soon as I heard your voice. I'm on my way back to Tomoeda." Masato blinked.

            "That's not funny, Sakura, you know better than to scare me like that," Masato replied, shaking his head disapprovingly.

            "Of course it isn't funny," said Sakura, shaking her head in exasperation, "it's the truth." With that, she stalked off, leaving behind a stunned Masato.

~*~

            Sakura collapsed into her seat on the train, closing her eyes and heaving a dramatic sigh.

            "Long day?" asked a voice next to her. She opened one eye to stare at the blue-haired young man sitting next to her. His blue eyes were kind, so Sakura decided to answer him.

            "You've no idea." The man smiled and held out his hand.

            "Hiiragizawa Eriol," he said. Sakura opened her other eye, sat up straighter, and shook his hand.

            "Kinomoto Sakura. Eriol isn't Japanese, is it?"

            "No, I transferred here from England when I was young and couldn't bring myself to leave. I am currently on my way to pick up my fiancée in Tomoeda and fly with her to England. It's one of those big family reunion kind of things, and my parents want to meet her."

            "I'm headed to Tomoeda, too. I grew up there, you know. Hey, it's a small town, maybe I even know your fiancée!" Sakura said brightly. Eriol's smile turned mysterious.

            "Could be. So, may I inquire as to what brought you to Tokyo?"

            "My job," Sakura said simply. Eriol raised his eyebrows, silently asking for an expansion on this information. Sakura sighed. "I'm an aspiring seiyuu. There aren't too many openings in Tomoeda for one of those, and all of the agencies are in Tokyo."

            "I see," said Eriol, nodding.

            "So, what about you? What do you do for a living?"

            "I dabble," Eriol replied, adopting his mysterious smile once again.

            "Care to elaborate?"

            "Image consultant, businessman, lawyer, author… you name it, I've done it."

            "You must lead a pretty eventful life," Sakura said, slightly jealous of this guy's fiancée. Speaking of which… "So how did you meet your fiancée?"

            "I was visiting Tomoeda on a business trip. We hit it off immediately and became engaged a year later." [4]

            "Wow…" Sakura said, trailing off into silence. She was still envious. Sure, Masato had proposed to her a few occasions, but Sakura had never found their relationship to be anything serious. Masato just wasn't what she was looking for.

            Then again, what Sakura was looking for was something out of a shoujo romance. This was real life, and no debonair prince was going to come and sweep her off her feet and spirit her away to his castle in the clouds.

            Even with these distressing thoughts whirling around in her head like it was a clothes dryer, Sakura managed to fall asleep within moments.

~*~

            Eriol stared down at the young woman next to him, a slight frown marring his pleasant features.

            "So you really don't remember, Sakura-san?" he whispered to the sleeping girl, thankful that the compartment was empty.

            Sakura mumbled in her sleep, frowning at the events in her dream. Eriol's frown was replaced with another of his cryptic smiles.

            "Well, we'll just have to fix that, won't we? I'm sure my cute relative could jog your memory."

~*~

            When Sakura woke up from her dream (which featured a talking yellow teddy bear that flew), the train was just pulling into Tomoeda Station.

            "We're here, Kinomoto-san," Eriol said, standing up and pulling down his luggage from the overhead compartment. At Sakura's request, he pulled her own suitcase down.

            "Please call me Sakura, all of my friends do," Sakura replied. Wait, that was wrong… he rarely called her Sakura in all the time they had known each other…

            Sakura blinked. Who the hell was 'he'?

            "Of course, Sakura-san, but only if you will call me Eriol."

            "It's a deal, then!" Sakura chirped, smiling cheerfully.

            They departed the train, and then the station, walking out onto the street. Sakura took a deep, blissful breath. How good it felt to be able to breathe fresh air again!

            "Well, I guess this is where I take my leave," said Eriol, turning to Sakura and nodding. "I hope to see you again, Sakura-san."

            "Likewise. Ja ne, Eriol-san!" Sakura said, walking off in the direction of her house. She had better check in with Touya and her father first.

            As she walked along the path, memories that Sakura didn't recognize started to resurface. They were fuzzy, dreamlike, and Sakura could only identify a select few people. Shaking her head to get rid of these thoughts, she soon arrived at the familiar house.

            With all of the excitement of a schoolgirl who'd had too much sugar, Sakura skipped up to the front door and rang the bell. She waited for a minute, and then range the doorbell again, wondering if anyone was home. She was satisfied when she heard a memorable voice.

            "I'm coming, I'm coming, keep your pants on!" Touya grumbled, slamming open the door. Sakura held a Cheshire cat grin as Touya blinked owlishly at her, as if he had never thought to see his little sister suddenly turn up on the doorstep. Which made sense, because, of course, he hadn't.

            "To-ya?" called a man's voice from the kitchen. Sakura recognized this voice as well, not to mention the nickname: it seemed that Tsukishiro Yukito frequented the Kinomoto residence as he used to in high school. The sound of his name brought Touya back to Earth.

            "_Kaijuu_?!" he exclaimed. Sakura frowned at him and stomped on his foot.

            "Not a kaijuu!" she replied childishly, the way she always had while she lived under the same roof as Touya.

            Yukito's head appeared from the kitchen, followed quickly by the rest of him.

            "Sakura-chan! Welcome home!" he said happily, practically skipping down the hall to give Sakura a hug. Touya was still hopping on one foot, apparently in pain. Yukito frowned at him. "Come on To-ya, at least give her a hug, you haven't seen her in months."

            "Easy for you to say, Yuki, you weren't just stomped on by the little kaijuu!" Sakura frowned at him and sniffed, not bothering to reply that she wasn't a kaijuu (although she did give him a thwap for it later). Touya stopped hopping and gave his sister a quick hug. "Good to have you back, imouto. I missed having someone to pick on."

            "Is Daddy home?" Sakura asked. Touya shook his head.

            "Nope. He's at the university preparing for his next class. How so many people could be interested in learning about archaeology from him, I'll never know."

            "Oh, okay then," Sakura said brightly, before dumping her suitcase into Touya's arms. "Put this up in my room for me, Oniichan? I need to go see Tomoyo-chan. Ja!" She ran off quickly, leaving behind a sputtering Touya and a chuckling Yukito. Ah, too be home again…

            She arrived at the Daidouji house (okay, mansion) five minutes later, happily breathless from running. As soon as she declared her name at the main gate, she was hurriedly ushered into the house.

            "Is that Sakura-chan?" Daidouji Sonomi stood, with her hands on her hips, beaming. 

            "Sonomi-san! It's so good to see you!" Sakura exclaimed, giving her best friend's mother a hug.

            "Welcome home, Sakura-chan. Tomoyo is in the library with I guest, but I'm sure they won't mind your company." Sakura nodded and skipped off, navigating the corridors with relative ease. (Though it had been a while since Sakura had been here, she had still traveled these paths so many times that muscle memory took over.)

            She burst into the library, a bundle of energy.

            "Surprise, Tomoyo-chan!"

            "Sakura-chan!" Tomoyo jumped up from her seat and met Sakura halfway in a hug. "How have you been?"

            "As well as I can be," Sakura replied stepping away from her friend. "So what's this news you have for me, you sounded so ex— Eriol-san?!" The mysterious blue-haired man was sitting in one of the many armchairs in the room, sipping cheerful at a cup of tea.

            "Sakura-san, it is good to see you again," Eriol said, nodding to her. Tomoyo grinned.

            "You know Eriol, Saku-chan?" she asked mischievously.

            "It's a long story," Sakura said, sitting done in one of the armchairs.

            "We met on the train from Tokyo," Eriol told Tomoyo.

            "Apparently not that long, then, ne Saku-chan?" Tomoyo asked, sitting in yet another armchair.

            "Demo… You told me you were going to go pick up your fiancee, Eriol-san," Sakura said, confused.

            "I am," Eriol said.

            "He is," Tomoyo said simultaneously.

            Now, it is a well known fact that Sakura is, to put it bluntly, dense. But even the most dense person in the world could put two and two together and get four. Tomoyo had exciting news. Eriol was going to meet his fiancee, and had arrived at Tomoyo's house.

Two.

Two.

Four.

"Oh my god," Sakura said, stunned.

~*~*~*~

[1] Ah, yes, translations for Japanese:

            kaijuu: monster, Touya's affectionate nickname for Sakura

-chan: affectionate suffix, usually used for a girl close to you, but can be used for a boy on occasion

kami-sama: "god"

            moshimoshi: "hi" (on a telephone only)

            okaasan: "mother", can also be okaachan or okaasama.

            seiyuu: voice actress (they are idolized in Japan)

-san: another suffix, used for someone you don't know very well. Lit.: "Miss, Mr, Mrs."

ja ne: "see you later"

imouto: little sister

oniichan: (oniisan, oniisama) big brother. My favorite use of this is when Touya tricks Sakura into thinking she had to take her shoes off to get on an airplane (in the first movie), and once Sakura finds out that he lied to her, she glares at him and growls "oniichan…" Touya replies with "heh".

Demo: "but"

[2a&b] Yes, these really do exist. The Shibuya 109 building is a common sight in pictures of Tokyo, and the Hachiko statue is a traditional meeting place.

[3] I own Masato.

[4] Eriol is, of course, lying.

That's all! 'Til next time, minna!


End file.
